There are numerous types of automated wrapping machines which have been devised in the past. They are usually suited to a particular purpose, and have their limitations when attempts are made to apply them to other purposes.
For example, the typical wrapping machine found in the supermarket for applying heat-seal film to packages of butchered meat presents a clear face on the top for display of the meat and hides all the gathered ends and spare film on the bottom of the package. The machine works well in the supermarket for wrapping butchered meat, but would not do an adequate job of wrapping gifts.
Another class of machine is available for high speed application of preprinted, precut wrappers to product, such as candy bar wrappers to candy bars. While the finished package is attractive and neatly wrapped, the product is usually of a single size, and the wrappers are precut to accommodate that single size.
Other examples can be given, but it is believed that a machine particularly adapted to neatly wrapping boxes of arbitrary size, such as would be found in a conventional department store environment, has not been available.
The requirements on such a machine are that the finished wrapped package be neatly and attractively completed. Considering that the packages can be of any arbitrary size within limits, the ability to meet that requirement is not straight forward. If it is attempted to meet the requirement by using precut sheets which are large enough to accommodate the largest box, difficulty will be encountered in presenting a neat appearance in the wrapped package for boxes which are smaller than the maximum size.
There can be various definitions of "neat" in a neatly wrapped package. In the present context, it is intended to wrap rectangular boxes where all the corners are square or at right angle. In that context, neatly wrapped, unless the context indicates otherwise, is intended to mean a box which is wrapped so that the covering paper is folded or creased at each of the box edges in such a way that any flaps required for the final folding operation are neat and regular in appearance.
A typical application for such machines is in gift wrapping. In department stores which offer a gift wrapping services, the wrapping is usually done by hand. It is labor intensive, sometimes incapable of keeping up with peak demands, and oftentimes subject to variable quality of finished product. In hand wrapping, whether the individual uses cut sheets or roll paper, the entire operation of trimming the sheet to size, placing the box on the sheet, folding the paper over the box and making the taped or glued attachments is done by hand using sight and with the judgment of the individual exercised at most steps of the process. Skill and judgment are required to reliably produce attractively wrapped packages on a regular basis.